We are so excited to announce that Nation's Restaurant News has chosen Pizza Fusion as a 2010 "Hot Concepts!" award winner! Each year, NRN awards this title to four restaurant concepts that reflect the diversity of the industry as well as its creative and enduring entrepreneurial spirit.

We are truly grateful to our customers, fans and of course our franchisees for awards like this. With your overwhelming support both on social platforms and at the watercooler at work, we have grabbed the attention of the leading industry publication. This award is an honor and is highly regarded for an emerging brand like Pizza Fusion. We are also proud to share this year's stage with Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant, Twin Peaks, and Danny Myer's Shake Shack. Congrats to all of you!

Check out the the Special Reports page of Nation's Restaurant News for the full story behind all four of the winning brands for exclusive online features on the winners, including videos and photos.

See the Hot Concepts! honorees in action during the 51st annual Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators, or MUFSO, conference, which will be held Oct. 3-5 at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Fla. All four brands will showcase their signature dishes on Sunday, Oct. 4, during the Taste of What's Hot: Hot Concepts! Celebration Reception!

Pizza Fusion has spread it's wings and is taking on the beautiful planet of ours! Our first of many international franchise locations is in the beautiful city of Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The new location marks the first of many locations to open throughout Saudi Arabia with additional locations planned for Jeddah, Riyadh City, Egypt & Dubai in the near future. Our amazing partners in that area have done an amazing job at keeping the integrity of our original concept and sharing our organic awesomeness with their guests.

Here is a great video clip of our Jeddah location shot/produced by the local website Sufrati.com .

Sufrati is Arabic for "my dining". It´s a popular word that is used all the time by people of all ages and Arab backgrounds, especially in the Middle East. They are thee voice when it comes to all things food & restaurant related in Saudi Arabia.

Surprise, surprise…chemical pesticides are linked to yet another health woe. This time it’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. A study published on May 17th, 2010 in the Official Journal of The American Academy of Pediatrics links ADHD in children to their exposure to pesticides commonly used on non-organic fruits and vegetables. Just last week we heard about pesticides causing cancer. It seems like these scary pesticide studies and reports just keep on comin’ don’t they? Don’t fret! Pizza Fusion to the rescue!!!

In response to this news, Pizza Fusion is launching School Organic Pizza Fridays to help children and their families to transition to a healthier diet (and hopefully get the kids to settle down and pay attention!). Another recent study by Emory University found that switching to organic foods reduces pesticide compounds in children’s bodies to near-undetectable levels. See? We told you organic is good!

Families having a hard time getting children to eat their organic veggies are in luck…what kid doesn’t love pizza?! And we couldn’t have said it better than Cookie Magazine did: “With multigrain crusts and organic fresh veggies buried under cheese, who cares if pizza is all they'll eat?”

Parents, teachers and schools interested in participating in the School Organic Pizza Friday program by Pizza Fusion should contact the company at info@pizzafusion.com.

A report released on May 6th, 2010 by the President’s Cancer Panel urges consumers to select foods grown without environmental chemicals like pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, and certain agricultural fertilizers, to offset their risk of suffering from cancer.

Consumer food choices prove to be a powerful tool in the fight against cancer, and organic eating does not have to be only at home. Pizza Fusion, ranked the #1 Green and Organic Franchise, focuses its menu on organic foods at a great value such as their $5 organic lunch special. The menu, over seventy-five percent organic, includes delicious gourmet pizzas, sandwiches, salads, desserts, beer and wine. In addition, they offer vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free selections.

This report validates Pizza Fusion’s mission of providing America’s favorite food in a way that is the most delicious and even healthier at the same time.

“We are working hard to make organic, fresh and natural food the lowest cost, best tasting and healthier options for families to choose,” said Vaughan Lazar, President and Founder of Pizza Fusion. Among others, Pizza Fusion was recognized by the New Times with their “Best Of” People's Choice Award for Best Pizza.

The demand for organic food has been steadily increasing for the Pizza Fusion franchises and, with this report, is expected to increase at an even higher rate. In other words: Green = Green, in that doing good for people’s health and the planet also is good for business.

Founded in the best interest of the individual and the environment, Pizza Fusion is the number-one green franchise in North America. Based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the organic pizza restaurant chain offers fresh, natural and organic foods in its eco-friendly, LEED certified locations throughout the U.S. and internationally. Pizza Fusion’s mission is to uphold the highest level of integrity in all they do, from the quality and origin of their food to their care for the health of their customers and the environment. Pizza Fusion,“Saving the Earth, One Pizza at a Time.” (http://www.pizzafusion.com).

What a great contest! We some really amazing people submit some really great and creative videos for our "First Eva Earth Day Video Contest". The stakes were high and it was all for two really good causes. The first cause, of course being the pure selfish desire to win the totally awesome prizes and the second being a donation being made to "Share Our Strength" to help end childhood hunger here in America.

We had a star-studded panel of judges that included celebrity Chef Aaron McCargo Jr., host of "Big Daddy's House" on The Food Network, Michael Singer of Bon Appétit Magazine, Craig Agranoff from WorstPizza.com, Social Media Maven Jen Friel and Pizza Fusion Founder Vaughan Lazar. The judges were asked to review the top 5 videos based on the number of "views" each video had on Youtube. There was a little confusion due to the layout of the website and people mistook comments for views so we gave ALL the submissions to the judges for review. Contestants were judged on 4 criteria: Creativity, Edibility, Earth Friendly Value and Overall Presentation. It was TOUGH, TOUGH, TOUGH to pick a winner. We were so grateful and overwhelmed at the number of submissions for our first contest. And not so sound cliché, but they were ALL winners!

So... without further delays (we were supposed to announce on Monday but a couple of our judges were out saving the world), it's time to announce the 2010 Pizza Fusion Earth Day Video Contest Winner!

Drumrolllllll please..... Here is the winning Video from Jennifer Suzuki with her "Veggie Organic Mexican Taco Pizza" (WOW that was a mouthful) And this seems almost oh too timely for Cinco De Mayo!

2nd Place was awarded to Chef Tish Vanstone with her "Sublime Lime Chicken Divine Pizza". I think the name alone deserves an award! LOL

Jennifer won herself a trip for 2 to The Coppola Family Winery in Napa Valley, a brand new Trek "Eco-bike", a year supply of Honest Tea, a year supply of GIVE Water. $100 GIft Card to Pizza Fusion and a $100 Gift Card to Whole Foods! Tish won a $100 Gift Card to Pizza Fusion and a $50 Gift Card to Whole Foods!

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to all of our guest chefs and celebrity judges that took the time to make this happen.

We are so proud to be able to donate $3,000 to Share Our Strength on behalf of Chef Aaron McCargo Jr. who specifically chose this charity. He is a very busy culinary celebrity but was very quick to get behind such a great cause. We appreciate his HUGE heart and wish him continued success!